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Apartment Farmer

January 20th, 2008 at 09:07 pm

Walked with mom everyday except Friday when it was snowing.

Got 2 free Soyjoy bars and 2 free trial size Dove deodorants today.

I read a book called The Apartment Farmer by Duane Newcomb. Excellent. Very good advice on how to grow vegetables indoors in containers, and on balconies or patios. I live in a townhome and have several south facing windows plus a 10' x 10' patio. I plan to try growing a few vegetables this year. I want to try easy things first so radishes, carrots, green onions and tomatoes. Eventually I would like to try corn, potatoes, celery, apple trees, cherry trees, grapes, onions, lettuces, watermelon, green beans and garlic.

I like radishes, carrots and celery for vegetables. Lately I cut them up on Sunday and portion them in two bags per day. One for lunch and one for dinner. That way I get my veggies and it's easy. I put in 4 - 5 radishes, 3 - 4 baby carrots and 1 - 2 stalks of celery per bag.

Last week I bought a self watering windowsill planter for less than $6 and planted some radishes. They have sprouted and should be ready to harvest in two more weeks. I bought another container and planted a second batch today. This time I counted how many I could fit in the container @120. Almost 2 weeks supply. So if I start planting every other week I should have a year round supply.

I'm keeping track of my costs which are containers, organic potting soil, organic fertilizer and seeds. The costs will amortize out over time. Currently a bunch of about 14 radishes is 1.29 in our stores. Totally ridiculous. And they are often too hot or too woody. Hopefully mine will be better Smile

So 120 every two weeks would be worth around $11.00 x 26 harvests = $286

I'm going to start the cherry tomatoes next.

It's a new hobby and keeps my mind off of work so much. Speaking of which I had to put our code in the field this weekend and had to get up at 3:30 am Saturday morning to test it. I was on for 6 1/2 hours when it was only supposed to take 1 hour.

I swear I'm living in a Dilbert cartoon. In thier infinite wisdom the company decided to outsource at least 50% of the tech jobs to either Argentina or India. And then after doing that they turned around and decided any one who isn't a US based employee could not access the Production boxes. So the outsourced people test the product during the release and at the last minute hand if over to the few US employees who are left to pick it up and test during the implementation. So of course we now have 3 times the work that we were supposed to complete in the time allowed and we are not that familiar with it since we weren't the primary testers of it.

And of course the stuff I tested passed with flying colors but all the stuff I took over from outsourced people who supposedly tested their areas didn't work right. We found four main areas that never got tested by the Argentina people during the test cycle a day or so before we had to put it in production.

To make it even wierder. We had a US based employee who is an Indian go to India to work for 3 months and he was allowed to access the production boxes. What kind of logic is that? Indian contracters living in India can't do that. Indian contracters based in the US but who go to India for 3 months can. UGH!

And then we get told we need to hire more Argentina people to help us out because we don't have enough people to do the work. Who decided that we should hire people who can't speak English, who don't know how to test, who don't understand the platform and who can't do the work during the implementation is a solution to anything? It's so ridiculous, it's like living in an alternative universe.

I finished reading the library book Rider and Raelynx by Sharron Shinn. Sci/Fi Very good.

I finished reading the library book Beating the System The Next American Revolution by Larry Roth. Finance. Not that good. This guy doesn't like much and there's a kind of "I understand how the world works and if you don't see it my way the rest of you are fools" attitude about the book. No outstanding ideas or new information.

4 Responses to “Apartment Farmer”

  1. fern Says:
    1200866588

    i had very good luck growing eggplant from a container.

    I have so-called dwarf cherry trees, 3 of them, in my yard. I don't think these would do well in containers as they are still about 8 feet high and get very bushy. Also, you need 2 or 3 at least to cross-pollinate.

  2. Carolina Bound Says:
    1200872371

    Your job sounds very much like Dilbert-land. How did companies get so stupid?

  3. luxlivingfrugalis Says:
    1200878275

    Ummm, I believe if you are growing carrots you need to keep your soil rather on the loose side, like maybe cutting it w/some sand. Those root crops have to get down in there and can't when the soil is too compacted.

    Good luck with your gardening adventures and do keep posting how it's going. Sounds like it could save you some serious dough. If you run into problems w/bugs or such, don't forget your local extension agency. Ours are very helpful here.

  4. John Says:
    1200939806

    Wow, your company seems to be doing whatever it can to save money. Are they going through financial trouble?

    I have a friend who went to India for work. She said it was wonderful. Is your company thinking of sending you to India for 3 months too?

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